Forgiving and Regretting
by RainOrTears
Summary: He lied. There was no doubting it. What's done is done. It can't be changed. So he tries to make the best of it. Forgiving doesn't mean forgetting and living doesn't mean regretting. Alternate endings. Rated for language and just to be safe.
1. Live and Regret

**Live and Regret**

I don't own Artemis Fowl.

* * *

"Do you think arguing is bad for our health?"

He smirked. "No, it's rather good for our health. What good is life if you can't yell and let your emotions be free? It's better than bottling it up. And it's good because you and I don't stay mad at each other."

"Yeah, I suppose."

His smirk turned down.

"We don't stay mad at each other, correct?"

She didn't answer. She kept playing with the corner of the page in the book she had been reading on the couch. He had been sitting beside her feet. He made to stand up, but her foot pushed him back down.

"Correct." She whispered.

But he knew better. He knew that tone. As he stood up, she didn't protest. He sat next to her, and asked again.

"Holly, we don't stay mad at each other, right?"

She looked up at him. "How am I supposed to answer that, Artemis?"  
He was speechless. She turned away from him and continued. "It can't be healthy. It just can't…"

"Holly, are you upset with me?"  
She didn't turn around.  
"Holly," he put a hand on her shoulder, but she still didn't turn.  
He knew that he shouldn't surprise her, she was the officer, and he was the civilian. She would flip him, or do some confusing LEP karate thing. But he couldn't get anywhere with this conversation if he didn't make eye contact.

He took hold of her chin, and gently rotated it to face him. But she still refused; she had closed her eyes. He sighed, but not in defeat yet. He still had one more trick up his sleeves.

He leaned forward, and kissed her forehead.

That shot her eyes open on the spot. She didn't pull away though. Instead he did.

"Holly," she nodded. "Are you mad at me?"  
She closed her eyes, considering it. Then, slowly she shook her head, eyes still closed. "Are you going to talk to me?" he smiled.

She gave a snort, and then smiled as well. "I'm thinking about it."

"Are you going to open your eyes?"

She smirked. "Are you going to answer my question?" She didn't even have to open her eyes to picture the confused look on his face.

"I thought I-"

"_Truthfully_ Mud boy."

"I _truthfully_ think that it is, unless it results in one of the two parties being upset. Which brings us back to my question, are you mad at me?"

She sighed deeply this time. "Only partially."

"How can you be partially mad at me?"

"Because I said I was, Fowl."

"Okay." He leaned back on the couch, and grabbed his book. Giving the illusion of being defeated, but he wasn't, not if he could do anything about it.

Holly glared at him. "It's okay? You think it's okay? It's not okay Artemis! I'm mad at you! Doesn't that make you want to apologize or know what you did or something?!"

Artemis didn't look up from his novel. "You wouldn't talk before, so why should I ask questions that aren't going to be answered?" His face was emotionless. He was nothing but calm and cold. He hadn't talked that way to Holly in years.

Holly sat there, staring daggers at the back of his head. She stood up and slammed the book into the coffee table. Then she walked to the door, but she stopped and turned around, feeling the need to make one last comment, before she let herself do a very rare thing: cry.

"Well, I guess this answers your question." She paused as he looked up into her tear filled eyes. "We do stay mad at each other."

Then she ran. She didn't know where to, but somewhere. Anywhere. She needed to feel the wind in her hair. She ran past Butler. She ran past a large window, and paused. She saw that it was raining. The she ran down the grand stairway and opened the nearest door.

* * *

Artemis was, needless to say, shocked. Holly had been close to tears when she had turned back to him. She was never close to tears. She never cried; at least not in front of him. This was bad.

Butler came quickly through the door. "Holly, she was…running. And she, I don't know where, she-she-"  
The body guard was panting. _He must have run from where he saw Holly,_ Artemis thought.

"It's alright, old friend, I'll go find her. You should probably have a glass of water or something. I'll go get that-"

Butler interrupted. "No, no Artemis that won't be necessary. You go find Holly, I'll calm myself."

Artemis nodded, and then ran to the camera room. He was certainly not going to run around looking for her, while he could stay in one place and find her significantly faster. He scanned the screens.

_There;_ beside the oak tree in the side yard. Artemis sighed deeply and massaged his temples before he quickly ran to the west wing. Only Holly would go and sit next to the tallest tree in the grounds, in the midst of an angry thunder storm.

* * *

Holly sat there, beside the most comforting tree she could find. She wasn't sitting under it though. She had seated herself just out of the protection the branches offered, so she was dripping wet and her tears could not be seen.

She knew exactly why she had started crying in the first place. It was no mystery. It's always easier to bawl when you don't have to add confusion to the taste of salty tears in your mouth. Artemis had lied to her. It was that simple. And even though she _had_ said she had forgiven him, they both knew that it was something that would change their friendship forever. One split decision was all it took though. Artemis knew that. Holly knew that. It had proven so many times on their adventures. But for some reason, Artemis had felt the need to lie to her. _I would've helped anyways. Even if it was against orders, _she thought. Then she let slip a smirk. She broke the rules so much. Too much. But if there was a life on the line, then the words of her superiors disintegrated in her head, and she did what felt right. Usually what felt right started out messy and progressively got worse. But she was a big girl. She knew how to take care of herself. And if she put her life in danger, it wasn't because she wasn't thinking, but because she was. It was a trait that helped her get into the LEP. Being able to stay calm in life threatening situations was something that she had always been good at. But there was a certain point at which everyone cracked. Hers just happened to be when someone she cared about got them self in a life threatening situation. Artemis being Artemis also obtained the quality of staying calm during these situations. However, like Holly, when someone he cared about got themselves into the same situation, he would uncharacteristically panic. When Holly and Artemis paired together, and they both put their lives in danger for the other, usually they both ended up panicking. Artemis didn't panic verbally though. He kept it to himself, thus earning him the reputation of the still cold, unchanged genius to people that didn't know him. To people that did know him, however, they could see through the act, and get glimpses of him actually caring.

Holly sighed. The tears were still coming strong. She had no idea that she would ever produce this much water over a stupid mud boy. He lied to her. He had been deceiving to her. He had been cold to her. But she had thought that had changed. When he lied to her and deceived her, she had gone over the top. But when he had been cold to her in his study where they had been peacefully sitting, reading, enjoying each other's company not half an hour ago, she was reminded of the twelve year old that had been horrendous towards her and her People. And it hurt her. She had thought he had changed. But he hadn't. He hadn't even come after her. He didn't care. She was just some part of his master plan that he would reveal once the earth was at his feet. Years of what she had thought of as friendship, were flushed down the toilet. When she thought this, the tears only came more, and her breathing started to hitch. She was having a meltdown over a mud boy.

_Speak of the devil, _she thought as she could see the outline of a certain genius running towards her. She just cried harder. He had done this to her. Because of him, she had gone soft. Because of him, she would never know what to think when someone talked to her; if they were secretly judging or using her, or if they truly meant what they said.

Artemis reached Holly, panting.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?"

That was unexpected. Holly gave him a look of pure innocence, before returning to her hitched breathing, and swollen eyes. She didn't want to waste a breath on this mud boy. Not anymore.

"Holly." He spoke softly, barely audible over the sound of thunder and the rain. He sunk down to his knees in front of her. She had her head buried in her arms, her knees up defensively, as if he was about to hit her.

"Holly." He repeated. She lifted her head, but still refused to even glance at him. "Holly, look at me."

She wouldn't. She shouldn't. She couldn't. But when she felt his hand gently guide her chin so that her body was facing him, she didn't resist. She didn't open her eyes. It seemed like it was becoming a habit.

He sighed and leaned in to kiss her forehead. He couldn't find her though. She had shielded. He carefully reached out an arm, and made contact with one of her arms. He frowned. She was shivering, and cold as ice. He decided that he didn't care if she flipped him. She was freezing, and he was just sitting there in his coat. He started to take it off so he could wrap it around her. He froze when she spoke.

"Don't. I'm fine."

Her voice sounded edgy, sore and hurt. She made him feel overwhelmed with guilt just with three simple syllables. He put his coat back on. He would listen to her, but he would not let her freeze. So, instead of calling for Butler to bring a coat, or leaving her out to suffer by herself like he would have before, he wrapped his arms around her invisible figure, and held her tightly.

Holly huffed when he started hugging her. She wanted so desperately to let go, but he was warming her completely. She decided that once she had regained the feeling in her hands, she would set him straight. For then, she just leaned on him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Are your eyes still closed?" he asked. But she still refused to answer. "How about, you tighten your grip on my arm if it's a yes, and leave it if it's a no."

He felt his arm being pinched quite painfully. "I said tighten, not pinch. That really hurt."

Holly leaned up to his ear. She chose her words carefully. "Now you know what it feels like." She whispered.

He frowned. This was getting ridiculous. "Still?"

He felt his arm tighten. She wouldn't hurt him again like that. He knew how it felt; she wouldn't do it more than once. She wouldn't make him relive his pain, even if that was what he was doing to her.

"Can you please unshield? I find it hard to talk to you when I can't see you."

"I can't see you." She pointed out.

He sighed. "Yes, but you have a choice in that matter."

She unshielded as she spoke, but her eyes remained closed. "You never gave me a choice. You never gave me a chance to make a choice."

"And I'm trying to apologize for that. Why won't you listen?"

She sighed this time. "Because, because I-" she opened her eyes. "…because I have a choice in that matter."

Her crying had started to decease, her breathing had returned to normal, and she was finally warm. She made to stand up, but Artemis kept his hold on her.

"Holly, I've tried to give you on option. You have to understand that it's hard for me-dealing with emotions like this, apologizing. It's all new to me. Give me a second chance."

She looked straight into his eyes, disgust playing on her face. "Even if I wanted to Mister Fowl, I couldn't. This wouldn't be a second chance. It would be a twenty seventh. You really don't get it do you? I'm not a simple person, Mister Fowl. I don't just go around handing out my trust. When you're a police officer, you learn better than that. But I gave my trust to you Fowl. I gave it to the least deserving person on and under the planet, because I thought you had changed. I've known Trouble Kelp for longer than you've been born, and I still don't trust him completely. You're one of the lucky ones Fowl. There are only four people in this world that I would trust with my life: Foaly, Butler, Mulch, and you. But now there's only three. It's amazing really, I put my faith in someone who used to annoy the hell out of me, someone who shot me before we could properly be introduced, someone who broke the law and lied to me, and someone who kidnapped, lied, broke the law, and did anything in his power to get what he wanted. Do you know why?" She paused, Artemis, who was looking at the grass in shame, shook his head. "Because my parents told me that people could change. And I believed them. Turns out that three out of four can make a hell of a difference."

She stood up, and this time Artemis didn't stop her. He wanted to, but he knew that nothing he could do would make it up to her; he at least had to let her make a choice to walk away. As she started to fade out of his vision, he spoke once more.

"I don't regret it."

She turned back to him. "Excuse me?"

He stood up, walking over to her. "I don't regret it." He repeated.

"_Why?_" she looked completely confused. "Why don't you regret putting me through everything you have? How can any living thing, _not _regret the low things you've done?"

Artemis spoke fast. "Because if I hadn't kidnapped you I never would've met you. If I didn't do all those _low things_ then we never would've became friends. And if I hadn't lied to you, then you wouldn't have…" he paused taking a breath; he was going on shaky ground here. "…kissed me. And if you hadn't kissed me, I would've never come to a conclusion that, I-I" he mentally wacked himself for stuttering, but he couldn't finish the sentence.

Holly looked curious. Her eyes narrowed. "You what?"

Artemis looked away from her. "Never mind; it doesn't matter. What matters is that I don't regret it. And now you know that. I may regret the way I did it, but I believe that everything happens for a reason. There's an affect for every action, and I appreciate the affect that my actions caused. I-I couldn't do without you, Holly." He forgot to curse himself for stuttering, and instead just walked away, before he did though, he wrapped his coat around the confused Holly. She looked like she was frozen in place, and he was going inside anyway.

Holly watched him walk away. So he regretted it, but he didn't. She wasn't sure whether to be flattered or insulted. Over her head, lightning cracked. The storm was getting closer to the manor.

* * *

She shook her head. She decided to take it as an insult. She shielded and ran back to Artemis' study, gathering her belongings and leaving his coat. She walked out onto the balcony, and looked back, before flying away. If the People needed to ever contact the infamous Artemis Fowl the second ever again, they could send someone else. _Never again_, she told herself.

As Artemis made his way back to his study, he found his coat on his desk, with a note attached to it. He frowned as he read it. Then sighed. Maybe it was time to go back into the underground sales. He could use some uplifting gold…

He crumpled the paper and threw it aside. He called for Butler to get the Bentley. There was a criminal genius, about to make a comeback.

Had anyone walked into Artemis Fowl the second's study at that moment, they would've seen an outraged Irish teenager, looking as though his heart had been broken and a note crumpled; the last words of a one-time friend.

**Artemis,**

**You may not regret it. But I do**

**-A Lost Companion.**

**

* * *

**

Sorry if they're OOC. I tried. This is version one. There's an alternate ending starting at the last break up there. Chapter 2. Reviews?


	2. Forgive and Don't Regret

**Forgive and Don't Regret**

Version two. The happier one, because everyone deserves a happy ending.

I don't own it. There's a line in here that's from Romeo and Juliet. I don't own that either.

**

* * *

**

"Do you think arguing is bad for our health?"

He smirked. "No, it's rather good for our health. What good is life if you can't yell and let your emotions be free? It's better than bottling it up. And it's good because you and I don't stay mad at each other."

"Yeah, I suppose."

His smirk turned down.

"We don't stay mad at each other, correct?"

She didn't answer. She kept playing with the corner of the page in the book she had been reading on the couch. He had been sitting beside her feet. He made to stand up, but her foot pushed him back down.

"Correct." She whispered.

But he knew better. He knew that tone. As he stood up, she didn't protest. He sat next to her, and asked again.

"Holly, we don't stay mad at each other, right?"

She looked up at him. "How am I supposed to answer that, Artemis?"  
He was speechless. She turned away from him and continued. "It can't be healthy. It just can't…"

"Holly, are you upset with me?"  
She didn't turn around.  
"Holly," he put a hand on her shoulder, but she still didn't turn.  
He knew that he shouldn't surprise her, she was the officer, and he was the civilian. She would flip him, or do some confusing LEP karate thing. But he couldn't get anywhere with this conversation if he didn't make eye contact.

He took hold of her chin, and gently rotated it to face him. But she still refused; she had closed her eyes. He sighed, but not in defeat yet. He still had one more trick up his sleeves.

He leaned forward, and kissed her forehead.

That shot her eyes open on the spot. She didn't pull away though. Instead he did.

"Holly," she nodded. "Are you mad at me?"  
She closed her eyes, considering it. Then, slowly she shook her head, eyes still closed. "Are you going to talk to me?" he smiled.

She gave a snort, and then smiled as well. "I'm thinking about it."

"Are you going to open your eyes?"

She smirked. "Are you going to answer my question?" She didn't even have to open her eyes to picture the confused look on his face.

"I thought I-"

"_Truthfully_ Mud boy."

"I _truthfully_ think that it is, unless it results in one of the two parties being upset. Which brings us back to my question, are you mad at me?"

She sighed deeply this time. "Only partially."

"How can you be partially mad at me?"

"Because I said I was, Fowl."

"Okay." He leaned back on the couch, grabbing his book. Giving the illusion of being defeated, but he wasn't, not if he could do anything about it.

Holly glared at him. "It's okay? You think it's okay? It's not okay Artemis! I'm mad at you! Doesn't that make you want to apologize or know what you did or something?!"

Artemis didn't look up from his novel. "You wouldn't talk before, so why should I ask questions that aren't going to be answered?" His face was emotionless. He was nothing but calm and cold. He hadn't talked that way to Holly in years.

Holly sat there, staring daggers at the back of his head. She stood up and slammed the book into the coffee table. Then she walked to the door, but she stopped and turned around, feeling the need to make one last comment, before she let herself do a very rare thing: cry.

"Well, I guess this answers your question." She paused as he looked up into her tear filled eyes. "We do stay mad at each other."

Then she ran. She didn't know where to, but somewhere. Anywhere. She needed to feel the wind in her hair. She ran past Butler. She ran past a large window, and paused. She saw that it was raining. The she ran down the grand stairway and opened the nearest door.

* * *

Artemis was, needless to say, shocked. Holly had been close to tears when she had turned back to him. She was never close to tears. She never cried; at least not in front of him. This was bad.

Butler came quickly through the door. "Holly, she was…running. And she, I don't know where, she-she-"  
The body guard was panting. _He must have run from where he saw Holly,_ Artemis thought.

"It's alright, old friend, I'll go find her. You should probably have a glass of water or something. I'll go get that-"

Butler interrupted. "No, no Artemis that won't be necessary. You go find Holly, I'll calm myself."

Artemis nodded, and then ran to the camera room. He was certainly not going to run around looking for her, while he could stay in one place and find her significantly faster. He scanned the screens.

_There;_ beside the oak tree in the side yard. Artemis sighed deeply and massaged his temples before he quickly ran to the west wing. Only Holly would go and sit next to the tallest tree in the grounds, in the midst of an angry thunder storm.

* * *

Holly sat there, beside the most comforting tree she could find. She wasn't sitting under it though. She had seated herself just out of the protection the branches offered, so she was dripping wet and her tears could not be seen.

She knew exactly why she had started crying in the first place. It was no mystery. It's always easier to bawl when you don't have to add confusion to the taste of salty tears in your mouth. Artemis had lied to her. It was that simple. And even though she _had_ said she had forgiven him, they both knew that it was something that would change their friendship forever. One split decision was all it took though. Artemis knew that. Holly knew that. It had proven so many times on their adventures. But for some reason, Artemis had felt the need to lie to her. _I would've helped anyways. Even if it was against orders, _she thought. Then she let slip a smirk. She broke the rules so much. Too much. But if there was a life on the line, then the words of her superiors disintegrated in her head, and she did what felt right. Usually what felt right started out messy and progressively got worse. But she was a big girl. She knew how to take care of herself. And if she put her life in danger, it wasn't because she wasn't thinking, but because she was. It was a trait that helped her get into the LEP. Being able to stay calm in life threatening situations was something that she had always been good at. But there was a certain point at which everyone cracked. Hers just happened to be when someone she cared about got them self in a life threatening situation. Artemis being Artemis also obtained the quality of staying calm during these situations. However, like Holly, when someone he cared about got themselves into the same situation, he would uncharacteristically panic. When Holly and Artemis paired together, and they both put their lives in danger for the other, usually they both ended up panicking. Artemis didn't panic verbally though. He kept it to himself, thus earning him the reputation of the still cold, unchanged genius to people that didn't know him. To people that did know him, however, they could see through the act, and get glimpses of him actually caring.

Holly sighed. The tears were still coming strong. She had no idea that she would ever produce this much water over a stupid mud boy. He lied to her. He had been deceiving to her. He had been cold to her. But she had thought that had changed. When he lied to her and deceived her, she had gone over the top. But when he had been cold to her in his study where they had been peacefully sitting, reading, enjoying each other's company not half an hour ago, she was reminded of the twelve year old that had been horrendous towards her and her People. And it hurt her. She had thought he had changed. But he hadn't. He hadn't even come after her. He didn't care. She was just some part of his master plan that he would reveal once the earth was at his feet. Years of what she had thought of as friendship, were flushed down the toilet. When she thought this, the tears only came more, and her breathing started to hitch. She was having a meltdown over a mud boy.

_Speak of the devil, _she thought as she could see the outline of a certain genius running towards her. She just cried harder. He had done this to her. Because of him, she had gone soft. Because of him, she would never know what to think when someone talked to her; if they were secretly judging or using her, or if they truly meant what they said.

Artemis reached Holly, panting.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?"

That was unexpected. Holly gave him a look of pure innocence, before returning to her hitched breathing, and swollen eyes. She didn't want to waste a breath on this mud boy. Not anymore.

"Holly." He spoke softly, barely audible over the sound of thunder and the rain. He sunk down to his knees in front of her. She had her head buried in her arms, her knees up defensively, as if he was about to hit her.

"Holly." He repeated. She lifted her head, but still refused to even glance at him. "Holly, look at me."

She wouldn't. She shouldn't. She couldn't. But when she felt his hand gently guide her chin so that her body was facing him, she didn't resist. She didn't open her eyes. It seemed like it was becoming a habit.

He sighed and leaned in to kiss her forehead. He couldn't find her though. She had shielded. He carefully reached out an arm, and made contact with one of her arms. He frowned. She was shivering, and cold as ice. He decided that he didn't care if she flipped him. She was freezing, and he was just sitting there in his coat. He started to take it off so he could wrap it around her. He froze when she spoke.

"Don't. I'm fine."

Her voice sounded edgy, sore and hurt. She made him feel overwhelmed with guilt just with three simple syllables. He put his coat back on. He would listen to her, but he would not let her freeze. So, instead of calling for Butler to bring a coat, or leaving her out to suffer by herself like he would have before, he wrapped his arms around her invisible figure, and held her tightly.

Holly huffed when he started hugging her. She wanted so desperately to let go, but he was warming her completely. She decided that once she had regained the feeling in her hands, she would set him straight. For then, she just leaned on him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Are your eyes still closed?" he asked. But she still refused to answer. "How about, you tighten your grip on my arm if it's a yes, and leave it if it's a no."

He felt his arm being pinched quite painfully. "I said tighten, not pinch. That really hurt."

Holly leaned up to his ear. She chose her words carefully. "Now you know what it feels like." She whispered.

He frowned. This was getting ridiculous. "Still?"

He felt his arm tighten. She wouldn't hurt him again like that. He knew how it felt; she wouldn't do it more than once. She wouldn't make him relive his pain, even if that was what he was doing to her.

"Can you please unshield? I find it hard to talk to you when I can't see you."

"I can't see you." She pointed out.

He sighed. "Yes, but you have a choice in that matter."

She unshielded as she spoke, but her eyes remained closed. "You never gave me a choice. You never gave me a chance to make a choice."

"And I'm trying to apologize for that. Why won't you listen?"

She sighed this time. "Because, because I-" she opened her eyes. "…because I have a choice in that matter."

Her crying had started to decease, her breathing had returned to normal, and she was finally warm. She made to stand up, but Artemis kept his hold on her.

"Holly, I've tried to give you on option. You have to understand that it's hard for me-dealing with emotions like this, apologizing. It's all new to me. Give me a second chance."

She looked straight into his eyes, disgust playing on her face. "Even if I wanted to Mister Fowl, I couldn't. This wouldn't be a second chance. It would be a twenty seventh. You really don't get it do you? I'm not a simple person, Mister Fowl. I don't just go around handing out my trust. When you're a police officer, you learn better than that. But I gave my trust to you Fowl. I gave it to the least deserving person on and under the planet, because I thought you had changed. I've known Trouble Kelp for longer than you've been born, and I still don't trust him completely. You're one of the lucky ones Fowl. There are only four people in this world that I would trust with my life: Foaly, Butler, Mulch, and you. But now there's only three. It's amazing really, I put my faith in someone who used to annoy the hell out of me, someone who shot me before we could properly be introduced, someone who broke the law and lied to me, and someone who kidnapped, lied, broke the law, and did anything in his power to get what he wanted. Do you know why?" She paused, Artemis, who was looking at the grass in shame, shook his head. "Because my parents told me that people could change. And I believed them. Turns out that three out of four can make a hell of a difference."

She stood up, and this time Artemis didn't stop her. He wanted to, but he knew that nothing he could do would make it up to her; he at least had to let her make a choice to walk away. As she started to fade out of his vision, he spoke once more.

"I don't regret it."

She turned back to him. "Excuse me?"

He stood up, walking over to her. "I don't regret it." He repeated.

"_Why?_" she looked completely confused. "Why don't you regret putting me through everything you have? How can any living thing, _not _regret the low things you've done?"

Artemis spoke fast. "Because if I hadn't kidnapped you I never would've met you. If I didn't do all those _low things_ then we never would've became friends. And if I hadn't lied to you, then you wouldn't have…" he paused taking a breath; he was going on shaky ground here. "…kissed me. And if you hadn't kissed me, I would've never come to a conclusion that, I-I" he mentally wacked himself for stuttering, but he couldn't finish the sentence.

Holly looked curious. Her eyes narrowed. "You what?"

Artemis looked away from her. "Never mind; it doesn't matter. What matters is that I don't regret it. And now you know that. I may regret the way I did it, but I believe that everything happens for a reason. There's an affect for every action, and I appreciate the affect that my actions caused. I-I couldn't do without you, Holly." He forgot to curse himself for stuttering, and instead just walked away, before he did though, he wrapped his coat around the confused Holly. She looked like she was frozen in place, and he was going inside anyway.

Holly watched him walk away. So he regretted it, but he didn't. She wasn't sure whether to be flattered or insulted. Over her head, lightning cracked. The storm was getting closer to the manor.

* * *

Then things happened in a blur for Holly. She went back to sit under the tree. Then realized that she felt terribly alone and guilty. She called Artemis on his communicator. He didn't pick up. She swore and tried again. This time he did pick up, but before she could say anything, a lightning bolt radiated through the tree she was leaning on. Artemis saw her face full of pain before she dropped her communicator, and the line went dead. He ran as fast as he could to the tree. No camera room for him this time.

As he neared the tree, or rather what used to be the tree, he saw Holly. If her magic had kept her in this state, he wasn't sure if she would've lived had she not completed the ritual before visiting him. He checked her pulse first. It was there, maybe slightly faint, but there. She was just unconscious. Artemis sighed, digging deep. There were a few scratches and bruises that she had received from a few fallen branches that had not healed. She was out of magic. He looked inside himself, before holding his hand to her face, stroking it absent mindedly.

"_Heal._" He whispered.

He sighed in relief as a few blue sparks lazily drifted out of his fingers. Her face was mostly patched up. Artemis was completely out though. Had he not been so worried about Holly, he would've pondered over the thought of him completing the ritual. But he was worried about Holly, which was why he picked her up in his arms, not thinking of the strain he was putting on them. He silently thanked Butler for forcing him into working out every once in a while. Turns out Butler had been more organized than Artemis had believed, and later he found out that Butler had made him a _'special schedule'_ meaning Artemis was forced into the gym twice a week. Every once in a while in Butler's mind turned out to be very frequently in Artemis'.

He hauled Holly back to the manor, but once Butler had seen him, Artemis thankfully gave her to him, and Butler made a comment on upping the training sessions to three times a week. Artemis groaned. Butler laughed.

Once Holly was safely on Artemis' bed (the twins liked to roam the guest rooms, and Artemis was afraid that they would find her if he or Butler were to leave) he called Foaly. He thought it would be good to let someone that she trusted know above and below ground that she had been electrocuted. Butler was above, Foaly was below. Artemis had a feeling that he could probably track down Mulch who was probably in between, but he lost all train of thought when Holly stirred.

He walked quickly over to her bed. Her left arm moved. After a minute he felt ridiculous just looking at her, so he checked her vitals. Everything was normal. Artemis brought his chair over to the side of the bed Holly was practically falling off of. He made sure that she was asleep before gently taking her arms, and guiding her body back to on the bed. He had thought that he heard her breath quicken when he had touched her arm, but decided that it was probably _his_ breath that had hitched.

As he let go of her arms, Holly suddenly latched onto Artemis' arm. He stood there, dumbfounded. He slowly tried to pry her off his arm, but she wouldn't budge. He sighed and sat back down on his chair, his arm still being held by Holly. He had to smirk. This was just too complicated. She was mad at him, but she wouldn't let him go. He was trying to get her forgiveness, but he was attempting to get her off.

No one got what they wanted. Artemis had spent the last few hours beside Holly's bed (his bed). And that entire time he had been thinking of ways to reach forgiveness, he couldn't think of anything. He couldn't promise never to do it again, because that would be a lie in itself. He couldn't try to buy her out of it, because Holly was all about morals. Yet, if he was to do it all over again, he wouldn't change a thing. Because if he had changed anything, he wouldn't be sure that he would still be sitting there beside her, enjoying her company, even if she was unconscious.

He decided. He decided right then and there. They say that if you never try, you'll never know. So as Artemis reached down and took Holly's hand in his other, he wasn't worried that she would hit him or that she would never talk to him again. She would never talk to him again anyway, so there wasn't any point in _not_ taking a chance.

He leaned in, and gently kissed her. It was nothing special. He was kissing an unconscious lightning struck fairy that would never return what he thought were his feelings. He wasn't sure. Holly was the first _real_ friend he ever had. He wasn't sure if the fluttering in his stomach was considered normal. He wasn't sure if thinking that she was beautiful when she was angry was something that a normal friend would think. He couldn't be sure. He was a genius, yes. But being a genius mostly regarded scientific answers. Things backed up with fact. Emotions were the most confusing thing that humans dealt with, and the easiest to compare to roller coasters. Artemis didn't like roller coasters. He didn't like being confused, and therefore he didn't like emotions. But they were something that everyone had to deal with. And he was no different in that aspect.

As he backed away from Holly, he felt her arms hug him fiercely. He sighed, and as he was about to gently attempt to pry her unconscious form off of him, he saw that her eyes were open.

She was awake.

He blushed. Had she woken up when he was kissing her? He blushed harder. This was ridiculous. And she was _smiling! _She found his feelings funny; a joke.

"You kiss by the book." He was surprised by that. She was quoting Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. He smiled-he had memorized that book by the age of two.

"Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged. Give me my sin again."

She smiled. "Nice try, but I'm not as easy as Juliet."

Artemis smiled back and shrugged. "It was worth a shot." His smiled turned to a frown though. "I really am sorry Holly. But, if I hadn't done what I did, I couldn't be sure that everything would've worked out the way it did."

She nodded, and her smile also faded. "I know. But, I just want to know one thing."

He nodded. "Anything." Then he thought to himself. _Well maybe not __**anything**_.

"Artemis, do you think you've changed?"

He considered this. Was he still the monster that he'd been when he was twelve. Did he still feed off gold and power? Did he still spit in the face of love, and think that it was only something that fools gave themselves up to? He smiled. "Yes, I do."

She smiled. "And do you regret that?"

He looked down at her. If it hadn't been the one answer that would solve their friendship, he would've pointed out that that was two questions.

"Holly, I don't regret anything."

She smiled, and then hugged him.

He truly didn't. Everything happened for something else to happen. There was a hidden reason behind everything. A reason that would change things. A reason that would eventually turn good. Mistakes were things that happened for reasons, and from mistakes came experience, and from experience came memories, and from memories came happiness.

Artemis smiled. Going from a morning filled with arguing, electrifying, and tears to an evening of forgiving and not regretting, was a fairly good day in his opinion. The ending was all that mattered after all. But even though he and Holly chose not to forgive and forget, they chose to forgive and choose not regret.

"So it's okay to make mistakes, because you learn from them? And that makes it a memory, which you cherish." Holly broke into Artemis' mind.

He nodded. Then said, "Holly, you are my favourite mistake."

* * *

Again, I'm sorry if they're OOC. I tried...Okay so different ending here. Please don't tell me that the top's the same because I already warned you in the first version. I loved writing this. It was fun. So thank you, Reviews? and I'm done for now.


End file.
